The Last Airbenders HIATUS
by Enduring Light
Summary: Time set is beginning of book 2: Earth. Most airbenders perished in the genocide 100 years ago, but a single family made it out. Soon this family will be forced to fight for its survival, and future. HIATUS IN EFFECT FOR STORY
1. Chapter 1

Duron tightened his grip on the air, until it was solid. The air held the water inside it, until he could place it into his bucket. Once the air-held water was inside, he let go.

"Hi! What's your name?" a female voice asked.

Duron spun around to see a girl near his age standing.

"My name's Duron," he answered. "What's yours?"

"Katara," she replied.

Duron could tell by her clothing she was from one of the water tribes, and by the necklace she was wearing he could tell she was engaged.

"Who's the lucky man?" Duron asked, smiling.

Katara looked confused, then suddenly realized he was talking about her necklace.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, holding the necklace in her hand. "I'm not engaged! My mother gave this to me."

Duron shrugged. He looked around, there were no others.

"Where are you from? I haven't seen you in the village before," Duron inquired.

"Me, my brother, and a friend are... travelers of sorts... We got a camp in the woods," Katara answered.

Duron scoffed, "those woods? Those woods are filled with predatory animals, you'd better stay out of there."

The blood drained from Katara's face. Duron could hear it too: a couple of voices yelling for help. The yells were coming from the woods.

Both him and Katara raced into the woods, after about twenty seconds of running, they came across the clearing where they had set up camp. Two boys were fighting for their lives as wolf-bats tried to maul them alive. One of the wolf-bats was on top of one of the boys. The boy was holding the wolf-bat back with a staff, lodged in the wolf-bat's mouth. Duron quickly sprinted over, and kicked the wolf-bat off of the boy. The wolf-bat rolled over, before returning to its feet. It changed its focus from the boy, to Duron. He and the beast circled each other, before the wolf-bat lunged into the air, at Duron.

Duron dodged to his right, and the wolf-bat flew straight into the tree behind him. The wolf-bat's head smacked right into the tree, rendering it unconscious.

"How about you guys help me?!" the other boy screamed.

Duron looked over to the other boy. He was being circled by two of the wolf-bats. The first boy was back on his feet, and swung his staff. A gust of wind flew from the staff, and it sent one of the wolf-bats flying. The final wolf-bat ran for its dear life after it saw its two pack members defeated.

Duron couldn't care less about the wolf-bats. The boy just airbended. He looked at the boy again, this time for more than a split second. He was about four to five inches shorter, he had yellow and light-orange clothing, and most importantly, had a blue arrow on his forehead.

"Who's this?" the second boy asked.

The second boy was closer to Duron's age. He had brown hair, tied up in a ponytail, and wore blue clothing. He had to be Katara's brother, as he looked like he was water tribe as well.

"This is Duron! He's a waterbender," Katara replied, checking her brother for wounds.

"Well I didn't see him bending," the boy quirked.

Duron frowned. Katara had seen him bending? Thank goodness he was working the air on water, or he might have been exposed.

This is what happens when you're too lazy to fill the bucket like a normal person, Duron scolded himself. You get exposed.

"It just happened so fast," he lied, trying to make up excuses.

The boy didn't care, he just sat down on the ground, and looked over his boomerang.

"Whatever, at least Aang saved me," he smirked.

The boy named Aang used air to blast himself up into the air, and landed in front of Duron.

"Hi! Thanks for saving me!" Aang smiled.

Duron gave an awkward smile back.

This is so weird, he thought to himself.

Katara walked over to repack somethings that had fallen out of their bags during the fight. She opened up the food bag to find it empty. Katara threw it on the ground.

"Oh come on!" Katara exclaimed, "they ate all the food!"

Sokka frowned, "no food?"

In Duron's opinion, Sokka sounded like a disappointed four year old.

Aang was more mature in his reaction. Duron could tell he was deep in thought. Aang's positive mood returned, as evident by the sudden smile on his face. He turned to Duron.

"Is there anywhere near here where we could find some more food?" he asked, his brown eyes wide.

Duron bit his lip. He wasn't supposed to bring outsiders to the estate, but Aang was an airbender. Duron could trust him. Couldn't he? And not to mention that the arrows tattooed on Aang marked him as a master. Certainly his father wouldn't mind him helping another airbender.

After a short moment of thought Duron replied, "you could stay at my house for a while I guess."

Duron scratched the back of his neck. He could only hope he wasn't going to be in deep trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

Forskka wondered what was taking his son so long. Calon and Tane had finished their chores, and Duron's only chore was getting a bucket of water from the creek. Nerves started to set in. Had Duron gotten in trouble, or worse, exposed? All of the nerves evaporated instantly when the front door opened, creaking as it swayed.

"Dad! I'm home! And I... brought guests..." Duron called out.

Forskka got up from his meditation stance and walked to the entrance of the house to see these guests. Once he arrived, he could see one of the three guests was doning the markings of an airbending master. Young, sure, but he looked like he was disciplined. That was until Forskka saw the child-like smile on his face.

"Duron, did anyone see you?" Forskka asked, running to close the door.

"No one other than these three and some wolf-bats," Duron answered.

"Why is he doning sacred markings?" Forskka inquired.

"Umm... He's an airbender," Duron slowly replied.

Forskka sighed, "might as well have then sit then."

He led them into the main room, it had no furniture.

Forskka sat down on the floor, in a criss-cross form. He motioned with his hand for the others to do the same. They did so, save Duron who leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed.

"So, what is your name, airbender?" Forskka asked, his tone revealing skepticism.

"Aang," the boy replied.

Forskka grimaced. That was a normal air nomad name. Not like he said it was Boulder-Town.

"As airbenders have been extinct for a hundred years, I find it unlikely you're actually an airbender. Would you care to show some proof?" Forskka asked, as politely as he could.

Duron intruded, "that's unnecessary. I saw him airbending when we had a run-in with some wolf-bats."

Forskka took a deep breath through his nose, and closed his eyes.

"Another airbender," he said to himself.

"Another?" Aang asked, confused.

Forskka reopened his eyes, he held out his hand. He curled his hand, and let his fingers bend and unbend, and his wrist bend and unbend as well. A small, spinning ball of air formed beneath his hand. Then Forskka stopped motioning his hand, and the ball faded into the air around it. Everyone was silent. Duron gave out a silent sigh as he saw the three's stunned faces.

"You're... airbenders?" Aang gasped, his words as much of a statement as it was a question.

Forskka slowly nodded.

"We've been hiding here for three generations," Duron said behind them.

Katara lowered an eyebrow, "but I saw you waterbending."

After a moment to come up with the words, Duron replied, "I was bending the air around the water."

Forskka looked to his son.

"You were bending outside the house?!" Forskka exclaimed. "You could of been caught!"

"It's not like anyone saw me," Duron stated, giving a guilty smile.

"She saw!" Forskka corrected, pointing to Katara.

After a moment of awkward silence, Sokka looked to Forskka.

"Do you have any meat that I could eat?" he asked.

Forskka looked at him like he was a fool.

Sokka's eyes widened, "oh yeah! Vegetarians, I forgot, sorry."

"We got spinach-lettuce in the crate in the kitchen," Duron sighed.

Sokka sprung to his feet and ran. Aang continued to stare at Forskka.

"I thought I was the only one left," he claimed.

Forskka looked back to Aang.

"We thought the same about us," Forskka admited.

He looked back to Duron.

"If I ever hear, or see, you bending outside the house again, I'll have your head on a spike!" he yelled.

Forskka's face quickly went back to being calm when he returned his gaze to Aang.

"You're welcome to stay for dinner," Forskka offered.

Aang replied, "I'd love to."

Forskka looked back to Duron and said, "go get your brothers. I'll get what's left of our food, and the hungry one."


	3. Chapter 3

They ate in the main room, with bowls in their laps. The food was spinach-lettuce and grape-berries.

"So how did your family escape?" Aang asked Forskka.

"We didn't have to, our family was nomadic, unlike those at the temple," Forskka answered, before throwing a grape-berry in his mouth. "My father settled down here, with my mother. They decided they would stop being nomads until airbending was safe again. I was born to them. When I was twenty-six, I met Duron, Calon, and Tane's mother."

Forskka gave out a little chuckle.

"We had triplets. Triplets! Can you believe it? Sadly though, the delivery of three children was too much for her body to bear. She passed away a few months later from the strain it had put on her body."

Forskka bit his lip.

"We live off of our garden we keep in the back. We grow everything you could think of. We grow grape-berries, spinach-lettuce, apples, bananna-oranges, and even lemon-pears."

"I thought the monks forbid fathers to teach their sons," Aang frowned.

"My family didn't live in the temples because of that rule," Foskka replied. "Love is not an earthly attachment, but a spiritual one. If I am desecrating my spirituality by doing so, I will keep loving my sons."

Aang looked to the ground.

"You never knew your father did you?" Forskka softly asked.

"Nor my mother," Aang replied.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Forskka replied.

Meanwhile, another conversation was underway between Sokka and Duron.

"Why did you save Aang before me?" Sokka asked, before throwing in a handful of grape-berries into his mouth.

"Because he was closer. Why do you care?" Duron asked, smirking.

"Because I almost died!" Sokka replied, sending chunks of food from his mouth.

Duron's smirk disappeared as a piece hit him in his left eyebrow. He wiped it off and replied, "I promise you, it wasn't because I disliked you."

Sokka grimaced, "sure it wasn't!"

Duron looked to his front, and placed his bowl on the floor. His face showed no emotion. He proceeded to get up, and walked to the wall. He began to violently bash his head into it.

While Duron tried to knock himself out, Katara, Calon, and Tane discussed Appa and Momo.

"So you got an air bison?" Tane asked, curious.

"Yeah, he's really friendly too," Katara smiled.

"Who decided to name the flying lemur Momo?" Calon asked.

"Umm... That was Aang."

"Remind me to slap him later, will you?" Calon sighed.

Forskka's yelling stopped all of the talking between them.

"Stop Duron! You'll dent the wood!" he yelled.

* * *

Aang's mind wandered that night. The thought of airbenders being alive sparked hope inside him. He couldn't stop thinking of the possibilities. Once he had beaten the fire lord, they could return to the temples, and start over. He wasn't the last airbender anymore.

He could hear Appa making noises. Wondering what was going on, he got up, and looked down ahead of Appa's head.

It was Duron, stroking Appa's forehead. Appa seemed to be enjoying it.

"You two seem to be getting along," Aang smiled.

Duron looked up at Aang.

"I'm starting to see why you didn't take my father's offer to sleep inside," Duron smirked.

"Yeah... I didn't want to leave Appa all alone out here," Aang confessed, scratching the back of his head.

"He would of had Momo," Duron pointed out.

Appa licked Duron, who was now covered in bison saliva.

"Excuse me for a moment!" Duron exclaimed, laughing at the top of his lungs.

He walked away ten feet, then used airbending to blow all the saliva from his clothes. Duron walked back to Appa and looked the bison with a funny face.

"I thought I told you to stop doing that," Duron stated.

"He seems to like you," Aang declared, laughing as well.

"He better, because I don't know of an animal that licks people into submission!" Duron replied.

Aang grimaced, "I do, actually."

"What?!" Duron exclaimed, "what was that?"

"It was a wierd mole... wolf... thing..." Aang didn't know the specific animal species, as it must have emerged in the hundred years he was trapped in the iceberg.

Aang's happiness died as he spotted a glowing light in the distance.

Firebenders.

"Duron! Look!" he yelled, pointing.

Duron spun around and grimaced.

"I'll go get the others," he stated.

Aang jumped off of Appa to join him. As he descended, he used airbending to soften the landing for his feet. He sprinted after Duron.

* * *

"We can't go with you, young Avatar," Forskka stated.

"But maybe Appa can give you a lift!" Aang offered, trying to get Forskka and his family to come.

"Aang, we're staying, hopefully they won't know we're airbenders," Tane replied.

"They're not after you! They're after us! And this is Earth Kingdom territory! They won't take too kindly to you!" Sokka pointed out.

"I know they won't take kindly to us," Forskka sighed. "But I'm not forcing my sons to take part in your running."

Everyone stopped fighting, and silence followed as Forskka left the room. He came back with a bag.

"This is filled with food for your journey," Forskka stated.

Aang slowly took the bag, when Forskka held it out for him to take.

"My sons will run into the forest if things go badly, they will go to the nearest town, and remain hidden there."

"And what are you going to do?" Katara asked.

"I will stand my ground, and give them time," Forskka answered. "You need to hurry if you are to avoid the fire nation."

Slowly, Aang and his friends left through the door. Duron watched through a window as they left on Appa.

"You know, he would of been a great help if we have to fight," Calon said.

"True, but I won't endanger both you, and the avatar," Forskka replied, getting his staff out of a wooden box. "Now, lets go outside and greet our visitors."


	4. Chapter 4

The firebenders were running as fast as they could to them. Forskka and his three sons stood there as they approached. Duron could see the firebenders lining up ahead of them. They started to set fire to the trees around them.

"Go! I'll hold them back while you run!" Forskka ordered his sons.

"Dad, we're not leaving you!" Tane replied.

A blast of fire flew at them, and if Calon hadn't noticed, he would of been struck. He lunged right to evade the fire blast. The fire struck the house, and it lit on fire. Calon looked back ahead to the firebender who sent the blast. He gnarled his teeth.

Tane did an uppercut with his staff, and air sent the firebender backwards. Tane spun counterclockwise, and he swung his staff again, sweeping aside a squad of incoming fire nation soldiers.

Duron took advantage of his brother's attack. He did a stabbing motion with his staff and it send a strong blast of air. The bolt of air threw another firebender back. Duron looked to the sky when he heard whistling.

"Arrows!" he yelled.

Forskka spun with his staff, and created a whirlwind that threw the arrows aside. He looked to his left, where his sons were.

"GO!" he ordered.

"We're not-" Calon tried to reply.

"This is not a discussion! GO!" Forskka yelled.

The three sons turned around to go, but saw fire had spread all around.

Fire nation soldiers were charging from the fire. The sons charged back. Duron spun his staff, and sent a blade of air to throw them aside. But a firebender coming from their right sent a blast of fire to combat it. The fire and air canceled each other out. Duron turned to his right, and sent another blade of air. This time, the air met its target. The firebender was thrown back, and he impacted onto the ground unconscious.

Forskka looked ahead, they were still coming. He threw another blast of air, and it threw an entire squad back. They didn't get back up. He hear behind he that his sons were still fighting as well. He formed an air sprout and let himself rise. He formed a tendril of air with his right hand. He made it grab onto a firebender's leg, and he whipped him 180 degrees. The firebender smashed into a tree.

Calon sent blast after blast of air, but there was too much fire. He fell. Tane held onto his brother. He sent air to hold the firebenders away. Forskka rushed over in his air sprout. But before he could reach them, an arrow pierced Tane's heart. The air sprout vanished. Forskka fell onto his knees and crawled to his two sons. The fire nation soldiers stopped attacking and starred at the scene. Forskka didn't even care as they circled around him. Even before he checked their pulses he knew they were gone. Tears flowed down his face onto the bloody one that was Tane's. He had failed. Forskka had failed to protect his sons. Holding Tane in his left arm, and Calon in his right, he looked up to the night sky. Forskka gave out a cry of agony. Behind him a fire nation soldier pulled out a dagger.

Duron looked over and saw the scene.

"Dad! No!" he cried out.

The fire nation soldier plunged the dagger into Forskka's back. He fell, dead before his body hit the ground.

"NO!" Duron screamed.

Duron swung his staff and a blade of air flew from him. The air impacted the fire nation soldiers, and they went flying. Duron sprinted over to his family's corpses, and starred at them. They were dead. Duron looked back up, pure fury in his eyes. He starred at the fire nation soldier who had stabbed his father. The soldier crawled away as fast as he could, but Duron kicked him. He fell onto his stomach and rolled over. Fear swelled in his eyes.

"Please! No-" he cried.

Duron's rage started to fade as he starred into the soldier's eyes. He kicked him in the jaw, and the soldier blacked out. He had spared him. Duron looked to his right. Another couple firebenders were coming.

"Duron! We need to go!" Sokka yelled.

Duron wasn't going to go, he was going to die beside his family. He formed an air sprout and rose into the air. He used his staff to send blade after blade of air blasts. The firebenders rolled to their sides to evade them, but one was hit, and fell unconscious. The second firebender sent a blast of fire up at Duron, who sent a wave of air to flank it. The air made the fire be redirected, and it missed. Duron jumped from his air sprout and slammed the ground. A shock-wave of air flew in all directions. The firebender flew into a tree, and broke his spine. Duron twirled his staff and send an air slash at an advancing fire nation soldier to his left.

"DURON!" Sokka yelled even louder. "We need to-"

Sokka spotted the three dead bodies laying on the ground. Duron looked over his shoulder, tears in his eyes.

"I'm not going," he stated defiantly.

Sokka took a deep breath.

"Yes, you are." he declared.

Duron tried to spin around in time, but Sokka smacked Duron on the side of his head with his fist, rendering him unconscious.


	5. Chapter 5

Duron awoke to the sound of wind whistling past his ears. He opened his eyes to see he was on Appa, alongside Katara, Sokka and Aang. He couldn't tell where Momo was, until he felt a furry tail run down his neck. Momo was curled up on his head, sleeping. Sokka was looking over a map. Duron turned his head ever so slightly to look upon him. Momo, disturbed by the movement of Duron's head, jumped off. Sokka heard the movement and looked over to where Duron was sitting.

"You're awake," Sokka stated softly.

Duron closed his eyes, trying to recall what just transpired. After his memory returned, he wished he hadn't made the effort. A sharp pain was piercing from the side of his head. He put his left hand to his temple, and felt the bandage wrapped around his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sokka grimaced. "Try not to move too much, you may have a concussion."

Duron slowly retracted his hand from his head.

"Once Katara wakes back up, she promised she'd do another healing session," Sokka continued.

"She's a healer?" Duron asked.

"Yeah, one of the best, according to the waterbending masters at the north pole," Sokka replied.

Duron could tell by his tone that Sokka was proud of his sister's accomplishments. Sokka had flashed a smile for split second, before retracting back to a grimace when we relayed that fact. Duron had seen people act this way many times, especially his father.

His father.

His father would usually smile for a passing moment when he spoke of Duron's mother. Slowly, Duron began to comprehend the reality that he would never see his father's smile in any other form than his mind's eye. The same went for Calon and Tane. Why did they die, when Duron didn't? Could he have saved them? Duron replayed the fight again and again in his mind, trying to find the point at which everything fell apart. No matter how hard he tried, the point seemed to be the first second.

Sokka interrupted his thoughts by saying, "we're heading north. We're planning on laying low for a while. We're hoping to avoid the fire nation from getting on our trail."

Duron shrugged and replied, "seems like a logical choice. You have any place in mind?"

After a moment of thought, Sokka answered, "not yet."

Duron closed his eyes, trying to recall the numerous hiding places his father had drilled into him and his brothers. The village nearby was not an option, as the fire nation would surely go there. The forest was filled with carnivores and firebenders. The only place that would be safe would be the network of caves in the mountains. His father made him swear he would never reveal the hiding spots to anyone outside the family, but Duron doubted that that promise applied anymore. He couldn't get in trouble for it anymore. And besides, its not like they were going to be used by anyone else. Duron was the only one who knew about them, now that everyone else is... dead.

"Try to mountains to the east," Duron suggested. "My family discovered a large network of caverns years ago. They're about... ten miles from here."

"We've already been flying for an hour," Sokka replied. "We might of flown past them."

"Check on your map, I know where the caverns end," Duron insisted.

"We're west of the 'Ald'gean Mountains'," Sokka stated.

"The Ald'gean Mountains... Those are the ones, head for the lake at its end at the north," Duron directed.

Sokka crawled over to Appa's head. He was slow to avoid awaking Aang, who was in his path. Once he was on Appa's head, he grabbed the reigns.

"Time to east boy," Sokka slowly directing Appa to turn to his right.

Duron stared up at the night sky. Why did it calm him? One would think that after seeing so much devastation at the hands of fire, he wouldn't find giant balls of fire soothing. Yet, they did soothe him. The small, pulsating orbs of light gave him something to focus on: the light in the dark.


	6. Chapter 6

Duron and Sokka spent most of the morning looking for the entrance to the caverns under the Ald'gean Mountains. Once they found the small cave-like opening, they landed with Appa and rested until near the noon hour. Everyone was exhausted after the night prior, none more so than Duron. His head was slowly starting to feel better, but he still occasionally felt sharp pains in the side of his head.

The mountains were just as he and his family left them. The hard grey stone was visible from the side. A second layer possessed the openings to the caverns. The second layer was a softer, and brighter grey stone. Duron privately suspected it to be compact clay, but never found the time to test that suspicion. The entrances were hidden behind vines, hanging down from trees at the top of the mountain. But to enter the caverns, you would have to walk through a thirty-foot thick, and single foot high, river that ran alongside the mountains. The stream was weak as usual, and it mostly felt like a warm swamp. The river came down from a waterfall a few dozen feet back, and when the water was at the peak of the mountains, the sun heated it so as it had a soft warmth touch. No fish swam in the river, because of the waterfall, but occasionally a few turtle-doves would fly by, and rest in the softly-flowing river. Three foot high sugarcane grew alongside parts of the river, making the entrances even more hidden to the untrained eye. A second entrance was twenty feet left of the smaller one.

The air was slightly humid, but the air was cool, and the humid air seemed to be a cold sprinkle on their faces. The sunrise was barely noticeable over the high mountains, only the sky's color's change made it visible.

"Is this it?" Sokka asked.

Duron slowly crawled off his back and looked over the edge of Appa's saddle.

"Yes," he replied. "Take Appa to the larger entrance-we'll set up camp in their."

As Sokka guided Appa into the entrance, he became nervous. Appa didn't seem to like caves for some reason. Appa gave a soft moan.

"Does Appa not like caves?" Duron asked.

"Ask Aang, I never paid attention to those sort of things," Sokka admitted.

Duron gave a sigh of slight annoyment.

The ceiling of the cave was soft and smooth. After a few feet from the entrance the ceiling was curved and arched to a circular point at the top. The walls were carved as well-various patterns were etched into the clay-like walls.

The entrance tunnel ended after a short while and several smaller openings appeared.

"Land here, this is the main area," Duron instructed.

Appa heard Duron and simply collapsed onto the floor-he was exhausted from flying for so long. The sudden bump of Appa's decent awoke the rest of the group. Aang and Katara yawned as they stretched their arms.

"Where are we?" Aang asked, his voice slow and slurred.

Duron replied, "inside the Ald'gean Mountains. This is where my family hid immediately after the Fire Nation started hunting us."

"Wow," Katara gasped with awe. "The carvings."

"Let's just say my family had a lot of spare time on their hands before they built the wooden house," Duron smirked.

"So they dug out all of this?" Katara inquired.

"No, the caves are natural. They only smoothed and carved small portions of it," Duron corrected. "My father brought us here once every summer, he said there was a... spiritual significance that regarded this area. I carved about a foot of decorations in here as well."

Aang sprung to his feet and jumped off of Appa's back, he used airbending to soften the blow to his feet as he landed. Duron would of done the same, but the sharp pains in his head prevented him from moving too fast. Still, Duron moved as quickly as he could without hurting his head too much.

"Duron! You shouldn't push yourself too hard!" Katara urged as she watched his stumble to the ground.

"It's alright. I fell a little better," Duron lied, putting on a smile to hide the pain.

Katara wasn't convinced. The concerned look on her face didn't recede.

"Still, you should take it a little easy," she replied. "I want to do another healing session later."

Aang was paying attention-he investigating the carvings on the walls. A certain section caught his eye.

"These are the symbols for harmony and balance," Aang stated.

"We have a large collection of symbols inscribed here. My family started to carve them into these caves before we went into hiding. My father added the symbols regarding profundity, wisdom, and enlightenment."

After a short pause Aang asked, "which symbols did you add?"

Duron was slow to respond, "guidance, individuality, and... family."

Duron took a deep breath.

"We should set up."


End file.
